Editor's Note: This is the first mention of the Raleigh Call in a major book. Canfield and Weberman were also the first to reproduce the telephone slip (reproduced below from the HSCA files) written in Mrs. Alveeta Treon's handwriting. As such, what is written here were the first impressions about what the call may have been, to whom it may have been placed, and its context. Their work was furthered by Anthony Summers, who delved more deeply into what the purpose of the call might have been. -- G.Proctor

excerpt fromCoup d'etat In America: The CIA and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy
by Michael Canfield and Alan J. Weberman

copyright 1975
New York: The Third Press

republished 1992, with the following excerpt unchanged
San Francisco: Quick American Archives

pp. 148-149

While Oswald was in jail he held a brief press conference during which he said he was "just a patsy in this deal."[ 48 ] He was visited by H. Louis Nichols, the president of the Dallas Bar Association.[ 49 ] Oswald also made several phone calls which the Dallas Police said they kept no record of[ 50 ] and the pages containing the Dallas Police Department telephone records for November 1963 have been withheld from CD 1472.
Independent researcher Sherman Skolnick was able to come up with the document reprinted on page 287. In the summer of 1974 Mike Canfield called John David Hurt and tried to find out why Oswald called him. The following is an edited transcription of the conversation.

Hurt:

I never heard of Lee Harvey Oswald 'til the tragedy occurred...

Canfield:

But there's this document...

Hurt:

Never heard of him 'til the tragedy occurred... Had some telephone conversations with Kennedy's assistants though. I'd never talked to President or Mrs. Kennedy but I was greatly interested in them and a real Kennedyphile. Every time I'd be interested in their comings and goings and every time I'd talk to their administrative assistant. I never got to talk to either of the Kennedys... I was in the counterintelligence corps in the Army during World War II for about three years...

Canfield:

I wonder why they had this record down at the Dallas jail?

Hurt:

I can't tell you to save my life... he never called... I never spoke to him in my life -- the only connection I ever had was just seeing him on TV...
(Mrs. Hurt picked up the extension and Canfield questioned her about the call.)

Canfield:

Why do you think this record exists?

Mrs. Hurt:

It puzzles me to death. I'd like to know too.

Hurt:

My interest was from the standpoint of the Kennedys -- in fact, I'd be inclined to take the same action Ruby took -- I would have loved to have put a bullet in him. I wish I could give you some leads but I can't 'cause I don't have the slightest idea of how this thing came about.

Canfield called Hurt back in February 1975 and found out that he made the calls inquring about the Kennedys before their Dallas trip. He also commented on Bay of Pigs: "I think we should have gone on in there and taken things over and I think (JFK) felt the same way... I don't think we should have an anemy of the United States sitting ninety miles off our shore."
Judging from its signature and form, the document appears to be authentic. But it does not come from the National Archives.

Dr. Grover B. Proctor, Jr. is a historian and former university Dean who is widely acknowledged as an expert on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He has published numerous articles, lectured extensively, and has frequently been consulted by print and broadcast media.
While most of his work comprises analysis and interpretation of the assassination research phenomenon, he broke new ground in the investigation in the early 1980's with his work on Lee Harvey Oswald's alleged telephone call from the Dallas jail to a former military counterintelligence agent in Raleigh, N.C.

These documents have been collected and are being shared purely as an educational service to benefit historians and researchers who have an interest in this subject matter. Use of all materials is intended to fall under the "public domain" and/or "fair use" protection of U.S. copyright law, and they are reproduced for no purpose that involves monetary gain